KEY POINTS:
It's been five weeks since Anna Nicole Smith passed away, yet new twists continue to emerge in the bizarre saga that was her life.
Native American Johnny Soto of Sells, Arizona, has come forward claiming his son, five-year-old Marshall Soto, is Smith's child.
In a detailed interview with the Phoenix New Times, Soto revealed his affair with the buxom blonde model which apparently took place in early 2001.
Soto met Smith when she was staying at Paradise Valley's Sanctuary Resort and Spa, where he was a handyman.
The couple began a month-long affair, which resulted in Smith's unexpected pregnancy.
According to Soto, Smith's Southern Baptist upbringing prevented her from aborting the pregnancy and Smith began over-eating in a bid to disguise her growing belly.
Marshall Soto, named after Smith's deceased billionaire husband J. Howard Marshall II, was born in late 2001, just before Smith began filming the E! Channel reality series, The Anna Nicole Show.
Concerned about jeopardising her new television deal, Smith kept her pregnancy secret and signed over full custody rights to Soto.
Smith deposited a US$10,000 allowance into Soto's account each month, allowing him to quit his job and care for their child full time.
According to the newspaper, Soto has receipts, documents and hand-written notes from Smith which verify his story. Smith is also named as Marshall's mother on the child's birth certificate.
If DNA tests confirm Marshall as Smith's biological child, the youngster could become one of the wealthiest trust fund babies in the world.
